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Laws Banning Tobacco
Sales to Minors Don't Work
Laws that prevent the sale of tobacco to minors
are good in theory, but a new Swiss study suggests they actually
do very little to keep kids from smoking.
Many minors find a way to beat the laws, often by asking friends
or family members who can buy cigarettes legally to purchase them
on their behalf.
"In an authoritarian move, many states in the U.S. enacted
laws that prohibit youth to possess, use or purchase tobacco,
called PUP laws," study author Jean-Francois Etter, of the
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University
of Geneva, said in a prepared statement. Those who supported these
laws "neglected to evaluate scientifically their positive
and negative consequences," Etter said, adding that "there
is no evidence that PUP laws decrease smoking prevalence among
minors."
The study was based on reviews of all other studies already published
on this issue. Most of these studies were conducted in the United
States, primarily because all states have been required by law
since 1992 to create laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products
to anyone under age 18.
"The review showed that laws prohibiting tobacco sales to
minors are widespread, but that there is little evidence that
they have any impact on smoking rates among youth," said
Etter. The study showed "no effect of sales prohibitions
on tobacco use by minors, at any level of compliance by retailers."
The study is published in the July issue of the American Journal
of Preventive Medicine.
"I agree with Dr. Etter that current approaches to prevent
underage cigarette sales are a dismal failure, largely due to
a lack of political will to enact meaningful and practical laws
and sensible enforcement strategies," Arnold H. Levinson,
director of the Tobacco Program Evaluation Group at the University
of Colorado/AMC Cancer Research Center in Lakewood, said in a
prepared statement. "I also agree that laws alone will not
solve the problem of adolescent smoking," he said.
"As long as cigarettes are a legal, over-the-counter product,
keeping kids from smoking will require a large, multi-strategy
effort. There's still no good science to say we should abandon
tobacco sales laws and enforcement," added Levinson.
Reference
Source 101
June
2, 2006
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